This report examines diversity and employment in Canada’s automotive industry. More specifically, it focuses on better understanding the employment characteristics of women, youth, and Indigenous persons who are employed in Canada’s automotive industry and initiatives by industry stakeholders to improve these demographics’ labour market outcomes.

The report is based on an analysis of government statistics and literature review. We make several observations based on this analysis:

• Women are under-represented in Canada’s automotive industry and tend to be concentrated in lower-paying occupations.
• Youth are under-represented in Canada’s automotive industry and earn less than core-aged and older workers. However, their low earnings is likely a factor of experience, and youth who work in the automotive industry earn more than youth who work in most other industries.
• Indigenous persons are reasonably well-represented in the automotive industry, although the automotive industry tends to be concentrated in regions of Canada with relatively small Indigenous populations.

The report also identifies several potentially effective initiatives implemented by automotive and other transportation manufacturing equipment manufacturing stakeholders in their attempts to recruit and retain women, youth, and Indigenous persons. While these initiatives appear to be worthwhile, they are difficult to evaluate. This is due to a lack of corresponding data or analysis regarding the impacts or outcomes of these initiatives.